Keep the soul,
upgrade the bones.
Vancouver's Craftsman, Edwardian and Vancouver Special homes were built to last — but they need a contractor who understands what's worth keeping and what quietly needs to go. We renovate character homes with the care the original builders put in and the skills to bring the systems up to 2025 standards.
A 1920s Kitsilano Craftsman is not a 2005 Burnaby rancher.
Character homes built between roughly 1910 and 1950 were constructed with materials and methods that don't exist anymore. Old-growth fir floors. Hand-turned newel posts. Solid-wood door casings that took a craftsman a day to mill. Lath-and-plaster walls thick enough to muffle sound. These details are genuinely hard to replace — and most renovations either rip them out without thinking or try to preserve them without the skill to do it right.
They also come with challenges a newer home doesn't have. Knob-and-tube or early aluminum wiring. Lead pipe or galvanized supply lines. Post-and-pier foundations that predate seismic codes. Spray-foam-in-a-can isn't going to fix any of that. A character home renovation done well takes a contractor who knows both the old systems and the current code — and can hold the two in the same project without making a mess of either.
Renohaus designs and builds character home renovations as a single team — one designer, one project manager, one crew. Nothing gets lost between trades, and the millwork profile your neighbour noticed on your doorframe gets matched, not swapped for something from the lumber yard.
What stays. What changes. Both done on purpose.
Every character home renovation involves a deliberate choice about what defines the house and what's holding it back. Here is how we typically approach that balance:
Preserve and restore
- Old-growth fir floors — carefully pulled, stored during rough-in, refinished and re-laid
- Original mouldings and casings — profiled and matched in solid wood where sections are damaged
- Built-in cabinetry, wainscoting and period millwork — repaired, not replaced
- Stained glass windows — removed, protected during construction and reinstalled
- Solid-wood doors, original hardware and craftsman-style details
Upgrade where it matters
- Knob-and-tube rewiring — full replacement with a properly sized modern panel
- Galvanized or lead supply lines — replumbed in PEX or copper to current BC code
- Insulation and vapour barrier — done properly in walls and attic without destroying the interior
- Foundation and seismic — anchor bolting, cripple-wall bracing or full underpinning where required
- Modern kitchens and bathrooms designed to feel right in the house, not bolted on
- Mechanical systems — forced air or in-floor heat that disappears behind the original trim
Four steps, no surprises.
Assess & Document
We walk the home with you and record the original details worth keeping — floors, millwork, windows, structure — and flag what the systems actually need before we design anything.
Design & Permits
The design respects the home's character and fits how you live today. We handle all permits — and heritage alteration permits too if the property is designated — so approvals don't stall the project.
Careful Build
Floors come up first and go into storage. Rough-in trades (rewire, replumb, insulation, foundation if needed) run before anything is closed up. Matched millwork, modern systems, period-appropriate finishes.
Restore, Finish & Warranty
Floors go back down, trim is reinstalled, hardware is rehung. A detailed walkthrough with you, a full clean, and a written workmanship warranty on everything we built.
Character home renovation pricing in Greater Vancouver.
Every project is quoted on its own scope, but these ranges give you a realistic starting point. Character home renovations take more time than a straightforward gut reno — the preservation work, the matched millwork and the older-systems surprises all have to be priced honestly. We build that honesty into a fixed quote before we start, not into change orders mid-build.
- Sensitive room or floor restoration ($100K–$200K) — one or two rooms done right: fir floors refinished, mouldings matched, kitchen or bathroom modernized within the original character of the space
- Full character-home renovation ($200K–$400K) — whole-home scope: rewire, replumb, new kitchen and bathrooms, restored millwork and floors throughout, updated mechanical and insulation
- Down-to-studs with foundation or seismic work ($400K+) — full structural assessment and remediation alongside a complete interior renovation; the right path when the home needs it and worth doing once, properly
Older character homes almost always need at least a partial rewire, replumbing of the supply lines, and an insulation upgrade. We identify all of that at the quote stage so you're not surprised when the walls come open.
Character home renovations across Greater Vancouver.
Drag to see a character home before and after.
Craftsman full renovation · Kitsilano, Vancouver
1930s whole-home renovation · Mount Pleasant, Vancouver
Character home renovations across Greater Vancouver.
We work throughout Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond and Surrey. The highest concentrations of pre-war character homes are in Vancouver itself — Kitsilano and Point Grey Craftsmans, Mount Pleasant and Grandview-Woodland Edwardians, East Van bungalows and the Vancouver Specials that define whole neighbourhoods of the East Side. North Shore areas like Lower Lonsdale and the older pockets of West Vancouver also have substantial stock of 1920s–1940s homes that reward a careful renovation over a teardown. New Westminster's older residential streets and pockets of Burnaby Heights carry the same character, and we know those permit processes too.
Each municipality handles heritage alteration permits and older-home inspections differently. We've navigated all of them and know which inspectors to call and when.
Questions, answered.
Yes, and we plan for it from day one. Original old-growth fir floors can be carefully pulled, stored and re-laid after rough-in work. Mouldings are profiled and matched in solid wood wherever sections are damaged or missing. Stained glass is removed, protected during construction and reinstalled by a glazier. The scope and condition of the originals is documented at the assessment stage so nothing gets lost to a careless demo crew.
Most insurers in BC will no longer cover homes with active knob-and-tube, so a full renovation almost always means a full rewire. We flag this at the quote stage, not mid-build. The upside is a properly grounded panel, modern circuits and an electrical system that can handle today's appliances — and an EV charger if you want one.
A heritage designation in Vancouver or another municipality means exterior character-defining elements are protected under a Heritage Alteration Permit. Interior changes are generally less restricted, but the process takes longer. We work with the City's heritage planners during the design stage so the permit scope is agreed on before any work starts. Non-designated character homes have no such constraint — you can renovate freely, though most owners still want to preserve what makes the house worth owning.
It depends what you're comparing. A character home in Kitsilano or Mount Pleasant carries significant land value, and the original details — fir floors, solid millwork, the proportions of the rooms — are hard to replicate in a new build. The renovation cost is real: $200K–$400K for a thorough whole-home reno, and more if foundation or seismic work is needed. But you're not paying new-build prices per square foot, and the result has a quality of material and a sense of place that new construction rarely matches.
Not always, but it comes up often enough that we assess it at the start of every project. Homes built before the 1950s typically sit on post-and-pier or rubble-stone foundations not designed for current seismic loads. If the foundation is sound and the home has settled evenly, we may only recommend anchor bolting and cripple-wall bracing. If there's movement, rot or inadequate bearing, a full foundation upgrade is the right call. Either way, you know the answer before we price anything else.
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